At the Sign of Triumph: Safehold, Book 9

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

Live Free or Die: Troy Rising, Book One

When aliens trundled a gate to other worlds into the solar system, the world reacted with awe, hope and fear. But the first aliens to come through, the Glatun, were peaceful traders and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

Shadow of Victory

Sometimes things don't work out exactly as planned. The Mesan Alignment has a plan - one it's been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race - its way. Until recently things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners

With New Orleans out of control, Chad Oliver Gardenier, one of Monster Hunter International's premier hunters, has been dispatched from Seattle to reinforce the beleaguered members of MHI'S Hoodoo Squad in their fight against the darkness.

A Hymn Before Battle: Legacy of the Aldenata

With Earth in the path of the rapacious Posleen, the Galactic Federation offers help to the backward humans - for a price. You can protect yourself from your enemies, but God save you from your allies!

Into the Looking Glass: Looking Glass Series, Book 1

When asubatomic physics experiment causes a massive explosion, interdimensional gateways open in Florida - and aliens pour out. Some intend to bring Earth to its knees. Others seem willing to help, but will annihilate the planet if Navy SEAL Command Master Chief Robert Miller can't stop the menace from spreading.

Crusade: Starfire, Book 1

Spacers call the warp point Charon's Ferry. No star ship has ever entered it and returned since a vengeful Orion task force pursued a doomed Terran colonization fleet into it in 2206. Almost a century has passed. The fiery hatreds of a quarter-century of warfare between the Terran Federation and the Zheeerlikou'valkhannaieeee, the cat-like species humans called the "Orions", have eased at least a little.

The news that humanity had been dreading for ages had come true. Zombies are real. Worst of all, we created them. The apocalypse was upon us, and every man, woman and child had to answer a simple question of themselves: "What do we do now?"

Hell's Gate: Multiverse, Book 1

Arcana has never encountered another intelligent species while exploring scores of other worlds. No cities, no vast empires, no civilizations, and no equivalent of their own dragons, gryphons, spells, and wizards. But all of that is about to change. It seems there is intelligent life elsewhere in the multiverse. Other human intelligent life, with terrifying new weapons and powers of the mind...and wizards who go by the strange title of ''scientist''.

The Last Centurion

In the second decade of the 21st century, the world is struck by two catastrophes: a new mini-ice age and a plague to dwarf all previous experiences. Rising out of the disaster is the character known to history as "Bandit Six", an American Army officer caught up in the struggle to rebuild the world and prevent the fall of his homeland - despite the best efforts of politicians, both elected and military.

Ghost: Paladin of Shadows, Book 1

Former SEAL Michael Harmon, Team Name ''Ghost'', retired for service injuries, is not enjoying college life. But things are about to change, if not for the better. When he sees a kidnapping, a series of, at the time logical, decisions leave him shot to ribbons and battling a battalion of Syrian commandos with only the help of three naked co-eds who answer to the names ''Bambi,'' ''Thumper'' and ''Cotton Tail.'

Under a Graveyard Sky: Black Tide Rising, Book 1

Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few marines. When an airborne "zombie" plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia, and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.

Koban: Conflict and Empire

The Galactic Federation is confronted by the vast and implacable Thandol Empire, which has coveted the former Krall region of space for eons, a region of space now occupied and claimed by the upstart Kobani. Outnumbered, they face an opponent who possesses new and deadly weapons. An enemy that had thousands of years to develop the means to take on the Krall Empire, and now present the supermen with a weapon that turns their greatest genetic asset into their greatest weakness.

The Lost Patrol: Lost Starship Series, Book 5

Maddox and the crew are on their own, facing perils inside the ship and terrifying alien dangers outside in one of the remotest regions of the Orion Arm. Then they stumble upon the darkest secret of all. Unless the A.I. Galyan, Meta, Sergeant Riker and the others can help their beleaguered captain, Victory is doomed and Earth will never learn of the terrible threat gathering in the stellar darkness.

Off Armageddon Reef: Safehold Series, Book 1

When Earth herself lay under siege by an enemy humankind could not defeat, mankind undertook one last throw of the dice: Operation Ark. Earth's final colonizing expedition was meant to build a new civilization, on a planet so distant even the Gbaba might never find it, and without the high-tech infrastructure whose emissions might betray its location.

A Learning Experience, Book 1

When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.

Oath of Swords: War God, Book 1

Bahzell is no knight in shining armor, and besides he has too many problems of his own to be messing with anybody else's problems - let alone the War God's. Unfortunately, the War God has other ideas for him.

Princess of Wands

Barbara Everette, a homemaker living in a small town in Mississippi, had the perfect life. Perfect husband, perfect children, perfect house, perfect Christian Faith. She cooked and cleaned perfectly and managed all of the chores of the modern suburbanite, toting the kids, running the PTA, teaching kung-fu in the local dojo... perfectly. But perfection has a price, and the day came when Barbara snapped....

Publisher's Summary

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. So it wasn't surprising that he became spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?

But that was before his mother, the empress, packed him off to a backwater planet and he found himself shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, with jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, and barbarian hordes of bad disposition. Fortunately, Roger had an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of the Empress' Own Regiment. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the planet, capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, commandeer a starship, and go home.

If you have ever read anything by David Weber then you already know the characters, plot and conclusion. I don't mean that as a criticism, because I loved these stories. But if you are looking for high literature, insightful social commentary or a 'visionary' new story... this is not what you're looking for. If you want adventure and escapism dressed in military sci-fi clothing, by all means buy the entire series- In fact, buy everything the man has ever written because that's exactly what he writes. It's brain candy, and there is nothing wrong in indulging in mindless fun now and again.

This David Weber and John Ringo collaboration really sets the bar for modern military SF. Kind of a "Hemingway -esk" main theme with an immature fop learning manhood from an older and wiser man. Great battle scenes and interestingly believable situations. This series got me rolling on John Ringo books like the Posleen War series, note to Audible, we need these in audiobook form... and led to my blazing through most of David Webers work. Honestly, this one is well worth your time. Can we give 10 stars? Well done David and John, thanks for the ride!!

This audiobook, a re-telling of an ancient Greek account called the Anabasis with the addition of space marines and aliens, is firmly in the hard military science fiction tradition -- you will learn to tell a lance corporal from a captain and get detailed descriptions of how each weapon and device works. That being said, it moves along at a great pace, and, if you are a fan of either hard science fiction or Tom Clancy-ish military thriller, its a pretty enthralling listen.

However, there is in this audiobook, like all of Weber's work I have read, a very strong bias that is difficult to describe, but might best be called conservative, in a political sense. The bad guys are a nation of environmentalists, noble emperors are the best form of government, the military is always right, whiners need to be made into men, etc. This isn't something that need drive you away from the book, but it is persistant, and can occasional be a little annoying, since it shapes the way characters will be developed (what will the effete Prince learn from the marines? Why, the virtues of discipline!) Of course, it may not bother you at all, either.

In short, great hard science fiction with a military bent, though the character development and politics may not be quite as interesting as finding out whether the combat shuttle has enough fuel to reach that landing patch before they are detected....

This is the first in the Prince Roger series, and it gets off to a great start. Typical Weber and Ringo, with lots of action and adventure, but there's more underneath here than we sometimes see. The story has Prince Roger on his way to do his "wave the flag" duty at a distant world when his ship, and the dedicated Company of soldiers assigned to protect his (in their and just about everyone else's opinion) worthless butt is forced to land on a minor and rather inhospitable world due to sabatoge. They fight the flora, fauna and natives, to march "up-country" to try to get to the one port on the planet so that Roger can return home. The interaction between Roger and his Company, especially the Company Commander, is a learning experience for everyone.

The story is well read by Stefan Rudnicki, whose narration is seamless and becomes a part of the story, never standing out or distracting.

Overall, a pleasure, and a read that makes me really want to do a couple of extra laps just to listen to it.

If you walk into the scifi and fantasy section of any bookstore, you'll see a whole shelf devoted to these authors. So there is obviously a market for their work. But for whatever reason, it just didn't do it for me. I think if the book were a movie, I might be inclined to check it out, but as a series of novels, I find myself comparing the Prince Roger series to Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosian novels. Between the two, Lois wins hands down for me. I'm sorry to say that I truly found this book boring.

As far as narration, Stefan Rudnicki is a veteran and master of the dramatic read. If anyone has a problem with him, it would have to be a matter of personal taste and definitely not for any lack of skill.

The bottom line for me is that you will only like this book if you are totally into this genre. If you are trying this book out on a whim, as I did, you will probably be disappointed.

I have just finished my third listening of this series. I love the characters and the plot. Certainly, there are weaknesses, but overall, this is my favorite Audible series. I am a discerning listener and avid reader and it takes a lot to bring me back time after time. I remember having the same feeling about Tolkien in high school in the 60s. Strongly recommended by a Dartmouth English Literature major, author, and lawyer.

This is the story of a spoiled brat of a prince who comes into his own after getting stranded on a hostile planet. I enjoyed the character development and the narration was excellent. The battle and fight scenes were plentiful, possibly a bit too plentiful for my personal taste. What I could have lived without, however, were the extensive ballistic and technical details of all of the weaponry used.

This book was better when I listened to it than when I first read it. I actually missed an exit because I became so wrapped up in what was going on. Very well produced and the reading was excellent. I look forward to the next 3 in the series.

OK, so David Weber and John Ringo aren’t going to win any Pulitzer Prizes for this story. So maybe the characters were predictable and so was the story line. So who cares! This was a fun story to listen to. The story kept up a fast pace throughout the whole book. Actually through out all 3 of the books that I heard. This is truly one continuos story line from "March Up Country", "March to The Sea" right through "March to The Stars" and I feel safe to say will carry on into "We Few" (which I will be reading very soon). These books just made me want to keep going through this adventure to see what would happen next. It was basic good vs bad (not evil). Many of the ideas and scenarios developed through out the books were quite clever and unique and the integration of high tech space vs pre industrialized Earth technology was well done. Though why the bow and arrow never came up is a bit puzzling. I wanted to give these books a 3 star rating but just couldn't because they were so much fun. This was just a good all around listen.

I like Jack Reacher style characters regardless of setting. Put them in outer space, in modern America, in a military setting, on an alien planet... no worries. Book has non moralistic vigilante-justice? Sign me up!
(oh, I read urban fantasy, soft and hard sci-fi, trashy vampire and zombie novels too)

The narrator is very good. His female voices are distinct but not annoying and the characters are distinguishable by tone alone.

The story is also quite good: a young prince comes into his own (though not so much of this as I expected), a lot of blowing up stuff and killing people/aliens, a lot of military planning/battling, and an interesting alien planet.

The problems with the novel are a) it gets a little too detailed: there is often a long description of bullet types and weapons' effective distances, or how many body parts someone would be blown up into, etc. b) There are a handful of "tangents" - for example, near the end there is a 10 minute discussion of the process of making steel. In a military sci-fi book there's a discussion of steel-making? What?? It's out of place and unnecessary and irrelevant to the plot.

All in all though, the characters and setting are interesting enough to carry you through these rough patches - and if all else fails, you can just fast-forward through the slow bits.

Have fully enjoyed this audio book. At first I found the reading a little hard to listen to but really got into it and now find it brilliantly engaging. Have since downloaded the other two books in the trilogy as I could not wait to find out how the story and characters progress.
It contains some quite complex battles that you have to concentrate quite intently to stay switched on to where all the characters are but often found when you miss parts you can piece it together after but I digress a great yarn with great character development and a world that is well easy to picture and a good narrative. Defo. one for the sci-fi geeks amongst us however.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Stephen

hornchurch, United Kingdom

8/15/10

Overall

"March Upcountry (Unabridged)"

I really enjoyed this audio book i would say it was a cross between starship troopers and avatar.
This if the first book of four and i look forward to getting the rest.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Andrew Collings

North Yorkshire, England

12/24/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"A very good book"

Any additional comments?

Stefan Rudnicki is one of the few American voice artists I have found on this site that can really bring the books he is reading to life; his performance brings an edge and depth to the characters that is so often missing in audio books. Even his female characters are believeable without him having to resort to silly voices or the dull monotone of many of his counterparts (I REALLY wish they could get him to record the Honor Harrington books which, I found, were impossible to listen to).Highly recommended

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Terry

Killyleagh, Down, United Kingdom

5/17/10

Overall

"An Epic Story"

This series is up there with the epic Deathstalker audiobooks by Simon R Green. Start with this book and work your way though - you won't be disappointed.
Exceptional story vividly read and spanning a vast world of surprises.
Great action and characterisation adds to the plot.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

George

United Kingdom

4/8/13

Overall

"Good book - good series."

I very much enjoyed this "Prince Roger" series and have listened to it more than once.

For fans of epic science fiction this is a good buy - although the emphasis is more on low tech than high tech.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

karl

bingley, United Kingdom

12/23/12

Overall

"Great book and series"

The only complaint I have about the price Rodger series is there are only four books.

The story is well written and reasonably paced, the humour is well placed and not out of context.

The book has the feel of Webers Honour Harrington

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Rich

scunthorpeUnited Kingdom

11/11/08

Overall

"Fantastic"

Wow, I couldn't put this away once I started it. I hope the next "March to the sea" is just as good.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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